Peter Murphy's performance at Respectable Street Cafe was, of course, a treat for his hardcore fans. South Florida is not exactly the cradle of old-school goth, so for the erstwhile Bauhaus frontman to return in less than a year was extra-special.

The local stop of his Retrospective Tour, at Revolution last July, was pitch-perfect. But it was a carefully crafted show, with a sort of glitzy formality befitting the avowed glam rock lover. (He even wore a suit). This past Wednesday's gig felt like, well, exactly what it was -- a sweaty club performance with a hardcore crowd who had mostly traveled across county lines to sweat, dance, and emote. Murphy appeared relatively dressed down, in an unseasonable parka. But even that had a glam touch: Its hood was circled with blue feathers, boa-like.

That's not to say he toned down the theatrics, though, punctuating his

songs with seizing dances and His vocals retain their creepy, dramatic

timbre, and, actually, he's starting to sound a bit like the latter-day

version of his idol David Bowie.

The other major difference

between this show and last year's was the set list. That's clear just

by the names of the tours, of course -- the Retrospective last year,

and the Secret Cover Tour this year. Murphy did make some concessions

to his back catalog, even, luckily, playing "Cuts You Up," something he

has not done on every stop of this current run. There were covers

aplenty, too, and Murphy truly made them his own. There were not one,

but two Bowie renditions, actually, one of "Be My Wife," a recent tour

favorite, and another, a show-ending version of "Space Oddity" which he

reworked into a vaguely New Age-y ambient ballad.

As for the new material, of which there was a lot, too -- it's reassuringly good. Rather than go back to the Eastern exploration he's dabbled in recently, Murphy has returned to his art-rock roots. The new songs he played have a sexy, groin-centric swagger, serious guitars, and danceable rhythms.